The present invention relates to a stuffing machine for food products and particularly for such a stuffing machine in which tubular casings are stuffed with filling products and the items are separated from each other.
Machines of the above-mentioned general type are known in the art. For filling a synthetic, semi-synthetic or natural tubular casing with a sausage mixture or another food product, one end of the casing is closed, the casing is placed on a filling tube of the machine, a filling mixture is forced under pressure through the filling tube into the casing, and after a predetermined length of the casing has been filled, the filled casing is tied-off or clip-closed to form an individual item.
Machines are known in which for making linked sausages, filled items are separated from one another by twisting-off the sausage casing, for example by rotating a non-filled portion of the tubular casing while simultaneously preventing the rotation of the filled portion thereof. Such machines are disclosed in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,112,546, 4,073,039, 4,021,885 and 3,964,128. Machines are also known in which for making sausages, the filled items are separated from each other by tied string pieces or by metallic clips which are mounted on the casing by introducing them radially over the constricted end portion of the casing and forcing them to clamp this portion. The machine has means for constricting the casing during the clip-closing operation as disclosed for example in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,438,545, 4,044,425, 4,044,426 and 3,748,690. In the known machines with clip-closing the casing material can be mechanically damaged. In the machines with twisting-off, the speed of operation is relatively low.